THE DEVIL DOLL
US, 1936, 79 minutes, Black and white.
Lionel Barrymore, Maureen O'Sullivan, Frank Lawton.
Directed by Tod Browning.
The Devil Doll is a brief, effective horror film from MGM studios in the mid-'30s. It was co-written and directed by Tod Browning (Dracula, Freaks). Erich Von Stroheim also collaborated with the plot.
The film is a tour de force for Lionel Barrymore as a Devil's Island prisoner who escapes and who impersonates an old woman as he gets revenge on partners who betrayed him in Paris. Maureen O'Sullivan is his daughter. There is an atmosphere of horror with the special effects of the reduced humans who act like dolls, controlled by the will of another.
It is interesting to note the production values with the horror films coming from Universal Studios at the same time. MGM gives greater gloss and tone to their films. There is also an atmospheric score by Franz Waxman.
1. Horror film? Drama? A fantasy?
2. MGM production values: black and white photography, light and shadow, musical score? The work of Tod Browning and his sense of horror atmosphere? Settings? Special effects for the dolls?
3. The imagination, the making of the dolls, their reduction? Their misuse? The title?
4. Devil's Island, Lavand and Marcel escaping, the pursuit, finding Melita, the situation with Marcel's experiments?
5. Seeing the dolls, their being reduced from life? The animals, under the will and control of Marcel? The plans? The reduction of food capacity and more survival for the world? Marcel's death? The plan to go to Paris?
6. The atmosphere of Paris, Lavand as the old woman, the toy shop, the work with Melita? The police alert for Lavand? The picture of the three businessmen, their conspiracy, their fear? Lavand going to visit his mother, her sadness? His seeing Lorraine at the laundry and her hatred for her father?
7. Lavand getting his revenge? Approaching the businessman for money, luring him to the shop, reducing him? The second man and the visit to the home, the child with the doll, the businessman paralysed? The third man and his fear, the police guarding him, midnight, his confession? The rehabilitation of Lavand?
8. The portrait of his mother, her grief? Lorraine, the work at the laundry? Her love for Toto and his taxi? The Eiffel Tower romance? Hatred for her father?
9. Lavand, the visit of the police to the shop, Melita hiding the jewels, giving the policeman the gift?
10. Melita and her madness, Lavand stopping the experiments now that his revenge was over? The explosion in the shop and her death?
11. Lavand's visit to Toto, the explanation, the Eiffel Tower, the talk with Lorraine about her father, her being ashamed, his happiness?
12. The blend of horror, drama, fantasy and melodrama?
